Disassociation
by danisnape
Summary: Another snippet from Dark Devotion. This was just to see how far down the rabbit hole I could throw Severus Snape, once he had to abandon all hope to be redeemed. He still loves her, but can't help it if he has to kill her to keep his cover with the Death Eaters. Lyrics are from A Perfect Circle, "Counting Bodies Like Sheep to the Rhythm of the War Drums".


Inverness. It was a beautiful city in the Scottish Highlands. It was until The Dark Lord decided to prove his strength, en masse. The muggles never stood a chance as the Dementors swarmed in from the sea, and the giants stormed and destroyed the Inverness Castle in a matter of hours.

Greyback and his werewolf contingent attacked the Highland Council directly as the Ranking Death Eaters were assigned to take on any Ministry Aurors when they arrived.

Severus had thought that this would be a dry-run for taking out Hogwarts while simultaneously attacking the Ministry, and suggested that the muggles suffer a total blackout so that they couldn't communicate and leave a massive mystery for other muggles to decide what had happened.

He was surprised, then, to hear that exposing the Magical world to the muggles was exactly what Voldemort had in mind. Severus was tasked with getting news crews to the Church of Saint Andrew and to hold them there as they reported the horrors going on outside of Inverness Cathedral.

News crews attempted to record the fishermen who returned to land only to report feeling cold and hopeless while their crewmates were completely catatonic. Severus saw the reporter getting the Dementor's Kiss on screen, knowing that muggles would never be able to see their assailant.

The simple report on the latest spat between the Liberal Democrats and the Scottish National Party turned into a grisly scene that would have looked more appropriate in a horror film. The Council's meeting was abruptly ended as a group of vagabonds ripped off their clothing and began to take their wolf form, attacking and devouring anyone within their grasp.

But the most telling image of the day was seeing Inverness Castle being destroyed as giants struck down the towers with better efficacy than the Jacobite risings ever did with their explosives. The police forces and military were caught unawares and were completely unable to stop the destruction as the giants used the broken rubble as weapons, throwing them down at the much smaller people who were unable to get past the castle's natural defences. It wasn't long until the Dark Mark was floating above the castle, the signal for Severus to release his hostages and to have them broadcast the true power of magic.

He had bound the reporters and camera crew with magical rope restraints and simply ignored their protests, allowing them to watch the news with rapt horror. As the mark went up, he released them and walked his way out of the Cathedral. It appears that the Dementors had passed through here, judging by the mass of numb people, staggering around as if they had all been lobotomized.

This wasn't as merciful as he had hoped; he took out his wand and began flicking his Sectumsempra curse as people fell and bled out all around him. He was too efficient, however, and had to resort to stepping over the bodies as the film crew followed him, trying to explain how a man wielding a wooden dowel was cutting people at a distance and killing them.

Severus wasn't sure he could handle this anymore as he passed a playground where some teenagers had apparently been smoking after sundown. The runts, the bullies, the footballers, and the skinheads alike were stumbling along like mere sheep. And all Severus had to do was drop them all with his wand as The Dark Lord would raise them all as Inferi. He needed to take his mind off of what he was doing, and to lose himself as he monotonously carried out his duties. One of the punks he had deftly decapitated still held an mp3 player in her hands and he put the earbuds in and let the music guide him rather than his conscience.

_Don't fret precious I'm here._  
_Step away from the window._  
_Go back to sleep_

_Safe from pain and truth and choice and other poison devils,_  
_See, they don't give a fuck about you, like I do._

As he went through the playground, he saw a dark-haired boy that reminded him of himself, attempting to crawl away. Severus raised his wand and fell the boy, stepping over the now-cooling corpse as he kept cutting the brain-dead people open and leaving them to bleed into the ground.

_Counting bodies like sheep_  
_Counting bodies like sheep_

_Counting bodies like sheep_  
_To the rhythm of the war drums_

Though the streets were sparse, the few vehicles that were still on the road had swerved and crashed after the Dementors had sucked the driver's soul out. At a bus station was a red-haired mother who had clenched her toddler son before the attack, and had frozen in fear as the Dementors took the spark out of their eyes.

He had let himself believe that they were just sheep now, his footsteps having that viscous sound as he walked through pools of blood that the mother and child had made.

_Counting bodies like sheep_

His conscious was no longer a luxury he could have at this point. He had felt remorse for killing Albus, even as a favor to the old man whom he both cared for and despised. But he wanted to believe he was still maintaining his role as a Death Eater in order to eventually bring down The Dark Lord.

_Go back to sleep_  
_Go back to sleep_

The Dark Lord had apparated into town and used the historically-famous entrail-expelling curse to one of the reporters just for show. As deaths went, it wasn't the fastest nor the most painless. But such matters meant little to The Dark Lord. Using fear as a weapon was all that mattered, and he had placed the cameraman under the Imperious Curse as he began to raise the dead corpses as Inferi.

As they rose, they were like obedient children to Voldemort, glady shambling towards the few still alive, wielding cameras and screaming unintelligibly.

_Counting bodies like sheep_  
_To the rhythm of the war drums_

Severus lowered his wand and watched The Dark Lord raise corpse after corpse, and let them slowly go after the Kissed for no other purpose than because it was beautiful to him.

_Go back to sleep_  
_Go back to sleep_

_Counting bodies like sheep_  
_To the rhythm of the war drums_

"Thank you, Severus. You are dismissed."

_Go back to sleep_  
_Go back to sleep_

Severus nodded, unsure of where to go now. In the distance, he could hear sirens and gunfire as the werewolves tore through people in an orgy of blood and violence. The police presence wouldn't last for long.

As he turned to go towards the bay in hopes that a stray Dementor may take him as well, a series of pops alerted him that the Aurors finally arrived. Only 7 hours late.

_Counting bodies like sheep_

"Severus, we have company!" Voldemort's voice held excitement while Severus could only see rotten sheep shambling around, finding their next victim. Severus' shield was up before his opponent could even cast a spell at him.

_Go back to sleep_

More Aurors apparated in, creating a phalanx of shielding charms as they began to throw curses and hexes towards Severus and the Inferi. The Dark Lord had left already, willing to see anyone else pay the price and be sacrificed before himself.

_Go to sleep, Go to sleep, Go to sleep..._

Severus focused himself and his energy, summoning the Fiendfyre to take form between himself and the Aurors. The fire-based creature began to lash out and burn everything it could, living and undead alike.

_Go back to sleep_  
_Go back to sleep_

The Aurors were dropping one by one as Severus slowly walked over to where they were, using his cutting spell to slice their wand hands off as he walked over each dead or dying auror, hoping that none of them were his precious.

_Counting bodies like sheep_  
_To the rhythm of the war drums_

To his relief, Tonks wasn't here. His concern and worry built up within him like bile, threatening him to vomit on the spot. The excessive use of Dark Magic had its drawback, and Severus felt his body going into convulsions as a piece of his soul was being ripped out. Not by Dementors, not by forming a Horcrux, but simply by the level of Darkness he has taken on in order to play his part.

_Go back to sleep_  
_Go back to sleep_

Once he apparated home, Severus summoned a bottle of scotch and took to it like a ravished man.

_I'll be the one to protect you from your enemies and all your demons_  
_I'll be the one to protect you from a will to survive and a voice of reason_  
_I'll be the one to protect you from your enemies and your choices son_  
_They're one in the same, I must isolate you…_  
_Isolate and save you from yourself …_

Severus welcomed the darkness of unconsciousness to claim him as his eyes shut, sprawled across his leather couch.


End file.
